Reply With QuoteHow many people caught this story last week in the Havasu Herald?
Lake Havasu included in OUI study
By DAVID BELL
Friday, August 3, 2007 7:56 PM MST
A Southern California research firm is using activity on Lake Havasu in a study on how best to determine whether a boater is impaired by alcohol.
The Southern California Research Institute has been contracted by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators to develop and validate standardized field-sobriety tests for marine law environment.
People can't always stand or walk on a boat, said Dary Fiorentino, SCRI executive director. We wanted a sense of water conditions and impact on officers.
SCRI is the research firm that came up with the field-sobriety tests (FST) used by law enforcement on dry land. This is also the second time the firm looked at FSTs on the water. A study was initiated in 1992, also on Lake Havasu, but never completed.
I don't believe there's a better place to do that sort of testing than right here where everything started, said Mohave County sheriff's Lt. Randy Johnson. I'm excited that they're finally doing this, the sheriff is excited, and we will offer any help we can.
For this recent round of research, SCRI sent researchers to three locations: Lake Havasu, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and Atlantic Ocean beaches in South Carolina.
Johnson and Fiorentino credited Tim Baumgarten, law enforcement program manager for Arizona Fish and Game, with keeping Lake Havasu and Mohave County at the forefront of the study.
Baumgarten was unavailable for comment.
I personally went to Lake Havasu June 21-23. I'd never been there before and it was very interesting, Fiorentino said. I saw hundreds and hundreds of people moored on the side of the river, drinking.
Fiorentino said that made him realize that, at least for Lake Havasu tourists, drinking is a significant part of the boating experience.
That's troublesome because at some point they have to go somewhere and then there are a lot of impaired operators out there, he said.
Fiorentino praised the law enforcement agencies on Lake Havasu, saying they were the nation's leaders in identifying and dealing with boat operators impaired by alcohol.
I also saw a bigger threat of drinking and boating in Arizona than other areas. So it's not surprising your officers are better prepared, Fiorentino said.
We're a step ahead because we participated in an initial study they did in '92, Johnson said. We adopted those preliminary tests years ago and have been using them ever since. Arizona teaches them in watercraft survival school.
The study will take three years to complete. Using the data gathered in the three waterway visits, researchers will attempt to craft as many workable boating FSTs as possible. Some of the tests will involve motor skills, but the majority will be cognitive in nature.
In year two, SCRI will begin testing the tests. Volunteers will be dosed and tests conducted in a double-blind situation. In a double-blind test, neither the tester nor the subject is aware of which items are controlled.
Year two testing will be conducted at the SCRI research facility in Los Angeles.
In year three, with a series of FSTs that passed the controlled tests, officers will be trained and the tests conducted in the field.
Year three will be to make sure of what works in the real world, Fiorentino said.
That will lead to a series of standardized tests every law enforcement agency on any body of water can use when an operator is suspected of drunken boating.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported a 39 percent increase in alcohol-related boating fatalities between 1987 and 2005. But alcohol-related boating fatalities dropped 22 percent between 2002 and '05 as more boaters began designating a sober operator.
Maybe some of the ballers on here can volunteer to assist in the controlled study. I'm sure it would be a wake up call for everyone.
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